Casting ferromanganese



. UNITED STATES PATIENT OFFICE.

COLIN G. FINK, OF YONKERS, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOB. T0 CHILE EXPLORATION COM- IPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

CASTING FERROMANGANESE.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, COLIN G.- FINK, residing at 1 Leighton avenue, Yonkers, in the county of VVestchester, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Casting Ferromanganese; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it -appertains to make and use the same. I

The present invention relates to the casting of ferro manganese and more particularly to the casting of rather thin plates of this material.

Heretofore, in casting ferro manganest it has been impossible to produce castings which were sound, that is, free from checks, and would stand considerable rough handling. The difliculties in making such castings were due to the brittleness of the material and when such castings had been attempted, they would frequently crack into many pieces soon after casting. This breaking up seems to have been due not only to internal stresses but also to the'presence i the alloy of other materials.

The present invention has for its purpose the overcoming of the difliculties mentioned and is carried out by treating the ferro manganese during the casting with a material which exercises a scavengering action on the metal and either removes or nullifies the action of the deleterious constituents. The most extensive use of the castings such as may be produced by the use of the present invention is in electrochemistry as anodes and in order that such anodes may be used in practical operations on a commercial scale, the following requirements must be met:

1. The material must be capable of being cast or molded into suitable shape.

2. The anodes must be strong enough mechanically to withstand a certain amount of handling.

3. Provision for suitable electrical contact must be possible.

In electrolytic processes it is desirable that the anodes be thin and of considerable surface area, suitable dimensions are from about 2 x 6 x e" to about 5 x 34 x 14;.

As stated above the production of such thin and extended plates has heretofore been conceded to be impossible but it has now been found that by the addition of a small Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. *7, 1920.

Application filed July 9, 1919. Serial No. 309,535.

amount of a suitable scavenger to the ferro manganese just before casting, good, sound, clean, castings with suificient stren h for all purposes can be obtained. made in such manner do not crack or check and may be used with excellent results.

As an example of the method of carrying out the present invention, ferro manganese containing 7 8 to 82% of manganese, the rest being principally iron and carbon, is melted in a crucible and a small amount (say 3%) of aluminum is added thereto with agitation and the mass cast in graphite molds. The aluminum .acts as a scavenger and overcomes the tendency of the material to crack.

It should be noted that the invention is not confined to the use of aluminum for this purpose as other metals having suitable scavenging properties, for instance, magnesium, may be substituted for the same.

Further, while 3% of the scavenging agent has been found satisfactory, this amount may be varied and permit obtaining good results. A suitable range is from 11} to 5% of the scavenging agent, the greater part of this passing off in the slag.

I claim:

1. A ferro manganese casting in the form of a thin plate substantially free of checks or cracks and possessing satisfactory mechanical strength for use as an anode in electrolytic processes.

2. The method of producing a ferro man ganese casting which comprises adding a scavenger to the molten alloy ust prior to casting. I

The method of producing a ferro manganese casting which consists in adding aluminum to the molten alloy just prior'to casting.

4:. The method of producing a ferro manganese casting which comprises adding a small amount of aluminum to the molten alloy just prior tocasting.

5. A method of producing ferro manganese casting which comprises melting ferro manganese and intimately mixing therewith before casting a small amount of a scav- COLIN G. FINK. 

